


Always

by superforkingnerdy



Category: Superstore (TV)
Genre: Always, Angst, Brotp, Build up, Canon Compliant, Canon Related, Confessions, F/M, Feels, Fluff, I Love You, Mild Sexual Content, Multi, Multiple Relationships, Reunion, Romance, Soulmates, relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 03:55:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29694663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superforkingnerdy/pseuds/superforkingnerdy
Summary: Garrett opens up to Jonah about his relationship with Dina. Jonah admits how he really feels about Amy. Seems like a great bonding moment between friends- or are there ulterior motives? Featuring: deception, confessions, and an unexpected appearance or two.
Relationships: Amy Dubanowski/Jonah Simms, Dina Fox/Garrett McNeill
Comments: 14
Kudos: 41





	1. Opening Up

**Author's Note:**

> Written after 6x09. 
> 
> Important backstory: Most of the show is canon, just some slight changes. Amy has been gone for about three months and Jonah is living at her place. His breakdown in the store led to him ignoring Amy's calls and looking for a place to live, but he hasn't found one yet. At this point, Garrett is still in an open relationship with Dina and Brian (who is away on a trip.) 
> 
> The first chapter is mostly build-up but I hope you like it!

Jonah could practically feel his brain cells dying off one by one as he listened to Justine two tables over, babbling on about her latest Zoom date to nobody in particular. He’d originally sat down with Cheyenne, but he’d caught her at the last minute before she had to get back to work. Five long minutes later, Garrett turned into the warehouse. Jonah waved him over and opened up a bottle of orange sparkling water while he waited. “Hey, you remember last week when I was thinking about going camping?” Jonah asked. 

“Nope,” Garrett said as he unwrapped a sandwich.

“Really? The possums? It was a whole thing!” But Garrett hit him with a blank expression and took a bite of his sandwich. “...Anyway. I found this really cool place up past Kansas City that does this new thing called  _ glamping,  _ you ever heard of it?”

Garrett paused. Jonah thought he was mulling over his answer, but instead, he said something totally out of left-field. “I told Dina I love her.” 

Jonah, who had just taken a sip of his soda, nearly choked. “You  _ what _ ?” He pushed his drink aside and waited for Garrett to go on, but he’d just taken another bite of his lunch and was busy checking the score of the basketball game on his phone. Jonah’s face stayed puzzled as he stared at Garrett, who was acting like this was everyday conversation. 

“And how have you never heard of glamping?” Garrett mumbled disapprovingly between bites. “It's 2021, man.”

“ _ No. No, no.  _ You can't just say that kind of thing and move on, we’ve been over this _ ,”  _ Jonah pressed. “What happened? Did she say it back? Is she leaving Brian? Did you  _ ‘DTR’? _ ” 

“Uh, yeah... so, I told her, and she kicked me out,” Garrett deadpanned before taking another bite of his sandwich. Jonah was about ready to snatch that thing out of his hands. 

“She did  _ what _ ? Was she mad or something? What did she say? _ ” _ Jonah had so many questions. Starting with- how the hell can Garrett be so casual about this right now? Their entire friendship, he’s never been able to admit to his feelings like that and he just _ casually  _ drops the L bomb acts like it’s old news? “Wait, back it up. When was this?”

“I don’t know, sometime last week,” he shrugged, his mouth still half-full. 

“ _ Last week?? _ ” Jonah echoed so loudly it attracted head-turns. He cleared his throat, slid his chair closer to Garrett, and lowered his voice. “What happened?” 

“Well we were maxed out for the day, so we were just laying there, you know?” Jonah nodded, remembering that one of their many rules is that they can only have sex a maximum of three times a day. Then, to Jonah’s relief, Garrett wrapped up what was left of his sub and shoved it aside before going on. “We were joking around and her hand sort of fell on my chest-” Jonah recognized that as another rule-breaker. They’re not supposed to touch each other _anywhere_ after they finish. “But she didn’t get weird about it. No pulling back. Didn’t try to play it off. And I knew the timer was gonna go off any minute, so I-”

“Wait, what timer?” 

Garrett smirked. “She sets a timer after we finish. Five-minute cooldown, that's all I get. Then I'm-” he gestured with his thumb over his shoulder “-outta there.” 

“You're joking, right? That's insane!” 

“That's Dina,” he said, shaking his head. “The whole list a load of crap if you ask me.” 

“So why do you put yourself through all that? Why not tell her you want out?” Garrett gave him a pointed look- as if  _ Jonah  _ is one to talk about the crazy shit you do for love. “...Yeah okay, go on.”

“So I was thinking I didn’t want to leave, and the way she was looking at me, I was pretty sure she didn’t want me to either.” Garrett was fixing his eyes on a magazine on the far side of the table and his thumbs were twirling anxiously around in his lap. Jonah knew this was way out of his comfort zone and was proud of him for owning up to his feelings and being open for a change. “I thought, you know, maybe she was just waiting to know how I felt about her before leaving the guy she's with... so I just.. sort of.. said it.”

“Just like that?” 

“Yeah.” 

“And she kicked you out?”

“Well, first the timer went off.”

“Ahh, of course.” 

“Of course,” Garrett echoed. “But then she said we should stop seeing each other for a while. That she's with Brian and I can't be saying things like that. And… that we have no future together.”

“Ooh.” Jonah’s heart sank for his friend. “That's rough.” 

“Yeah, but get this,” he went on. 

Jonah was shocked by how much he was getting out of Garrett today. And was he the first person he told? Not like that matters, but-

“So today, after avoid me every day since, she just  _ casually  _ swings by after I finished the 12:00 announcements- asks me to make her into a  _ Bitmoji _ .” 

Jonah’s face warped into confusion. “What would she even do with it? She still asks me to decode regular emojis for her.”

“Oh, I know,” Garrett laughed. “She only knows what they are because I sent her one a couple of weeks ago.” She’d asked him to meet up for an afternoon quickie on their day off, and he’d sent her a bitmoji of him in a Super Mario pipe saying “I'm in!” He thought it was pretty clever at the time… “She didn't get it. Just send back a bunch of question marks. Thought I was hacked.” 

“Huh. So you’re thinking she just used that as an excuse to-” 

“Oh, yeah. Before she walked away, she told me to go over to her place tonight.” Jonah raised his eyebrows at this. “Said she wants to... ‘continue our conversation.’” 

“Wai- after all that shit she said to you and then icing you out like that?” 

“Yup...” 

“So what are you gonna do? Are you gonna go?”

“Would you?” Garrett asked, catching Jonah off guard. 

“Uh- hmm?” 

“If it were Amy.” 

“Yeah, I- I got that. But um-” he rubbed his neck uncomfortably. Garrett hadn’t asked him about her in over a month. He didn’t even grill him about his very public breakdown in the store a few weeks ago. “That's ancient history now. She just calls to ask about the plants and… to make sure I paid rent, stupid shit like that.” He took a breath and sighed. “We’re not like you and Dina, okay? It’s been three months. She’s not coming back.”

“But if she did?” he pushed.

Jonah didn’t know what to say. “I-” 

“Let's say Amy shows up here tomorrow and asks you to take her back. After all she put you through, knowing the way you felt about her, and she ripped your heart out and stomped on it anyway... would you take her back?”

Jonah knew his answer all along. He could physically feel his heart aching in his chest from the mere thought of it. He just needed a minute to be able to admit it out loud. 

“Always.”


	2. Moving On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jonah comes home to an empty house and is looking forward to a night alone. He struggles to accept the fact that Amy is never going to come back, and a trip down memory lane makes that a little harder, but he knows it's finally time. Or is it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More build up for you :) Happy March 14th!

The rain started just as Jonah clocked out of his shift at 8 o’clock that night. It was a light drizzle at first, but by the time he pulled up to the driveway, it was as if the rain were on a mission to wash him away. He hurried for cover under the front porch, then took off his jacket and shook it dry before going inside to hang it up. He flicked on the lights to his empty home and checked the machine, but there were no new messages. He unbuttoned his blue and grey flannel as he headed down the hallway, where he found a series of dirty clothes on the floor, marking the path from the old guest room to the bathroom. Marcus must have overslept again. He always left the place in a mess when he was running late- something Jonah thought happened a little too often for someone whose shift usually didn’t start until 3 or 4 PM. 

He shook his head, picked everything up, and threw it all in the laundry bin. “And let me guess,” he mumbled to himself as he went to the kitchen. Just as he’d suspected, Marcus had left behind a counter that was sprinkled with frosted flakes and splashed with spilled milk from when he’d made his usual breakfast-to-go. 

In the back of his mind, Jonah could hear a pitiful Kelly asking him,  _ “Oh Jonah, how did this happen?” _ and wondered how many more nights he’d have to put up with this before he could afford his own rent. Not  _ here,  _ necessarily. He’d been looking at a few other places, but he just couldn’t see himself living in any of them for one reason or another.

After he finished cleaning up, Jonah kicked off his shoes and made himself comfortable on the couch. Since Marcus was on the closing shift, he’d actually have the place to himself for a few hours. That meant that for the first time in a week, he would have enough time to decompress and enjoy some quality alone time that didn’t involve training his roommate to win his next trivia night or helping him come up with ideas for his podcast. Instead, he could turn on the television and switch over to his FireStick and pull up the new documentary he’d been dying to see… but then Netflix had to go and ask him:  _ Who’s watching? _

Amy and Emma’s names appeared to the left of his own. Jonah froze, his conversation with Garrett replaying in his mind.  _ “Would you take her back?”  _ He narrowed his eyes at the screen, wondering why in the hell Garrett had to ask him that. And why did his answer have to be,  _ “Always” _ ? Amy had been gone three months and with every passing day it was that much clearer to Jonah that she was never coming back. He wanted more than anything to be able to get over her and move on like a normal person would, but there was still a part of him that hoped beyond all reason that she’d come home to him. 

Jonah shut off the TV, reached over the side of the couch, and opened up the nightstand drawer to take out an old digital photo frame. It had only been eight days since he last looked at it- and sadly, that was an improvement. 

The first picture took him back to the manager’s conference. He looked so ridiculous in that rainbow hat and those oversized glasses, and Amy… well she looked beautiful, even with that giant crown hanging around her neck. The shot was taken mid-laugh as he’d tossed a yellow boa in the air, and they looked so  _ happy _ . What Jonah wouldn’t do to go back to that night...

Then the photo changed and it brought him back to the night he, Amy, Emma, and Parker all sprawled out on their living room floor blowing up balloons, coloring signs, and making decorations for Parker’s birthday. They’d even made one of those family handprint paintings, gotten it framed, and hung it on the wall above the TV. Jonah had since tucked it away in the back of a closet so he didn’t have to be constantly reminded of everything he’d lost. 

The photo changed again, and suddenly it was mini-golf night. Amy and Jonah had tried so hard to let Emma win, but she was just  _ so _ awful at it. Jonah had even stood behind the holes, angling his shoes to help get the ball in, but it would still roll past him a whole foot away. Amy had taken first place, Jonah had come in second, and Emma was treated to a consolation ice cream. 

Next up was a selfie he and Amy had taken with Parker at daycare last March, just before their area had gone into lockdown. Parker had been so excited to play on the road map rug with his favorite dinosaur chunky puzzle that he wasn’t even paying attention to the photo, but it quickly became one of their favorites anyway, because it was the last time they were all allowed to be in that room together. 

Then it changed to him and Emma on the night of her junior prom. She had already taken pictures with her mom and dad before her friends showed up, and they were on their way out the door when she’d suddenly stopped to ask if she could take one with Jonah. So in front of everyone, Emma passed her phone to Adam for the best height angle and waved Jonah over. He was so flustered, he didn’t know where to stand or what to do with his hands (should he put them in his pockets? Give a thumbs up?) But Emma picked up her clutch in one hand, took his arm in the other, and told him to “be cool,” and surprisingly, he did just that. He’d actually managed to keep his foot out of his mouth for once and simply smiled for the camera- but the minute he was left alone with Amy, he’d talked her ear off about how much that meant to him and how he was starting to feel like a part of the family.

Then the photo changed again. This time, it was a candid shot of him and Amy slow dancing together in the middle of the dance floor at Sandra’s wedding. He’d spent that entire night imagining their own wedding so clearly, taking mental notes of all of Amy’s remarks about what flowers she would’ve picked, what type of cake she would’ve preferred, which traditions she thought were tacky, which songs she thought were overplayed… 

_ And that was enough of that.  _

Jonah shook off the memories and put the digital frame back in the nightstand drawer, face-down, resolved to finally start moving on from that part of his life. It was long overdue. 

Then, just as he’d picked the remote control back up, there were four soft knocks at the front door. He craned his neck to see who was there, but of course, the shutters were closed. He groaned as he got up, figuring Marcus must have gotten off early and forgotten his keys again. 

But when he opened the door towards him, the last person he would’ve expected was standing there, small and shivering. Every inch of her was drenched from the rain. She stared up at him, as if she were too scared to say a word. Jonah couldn’t believe what he was seeing. 

“...Amy?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay- I wrote so much for this chapter I ended up having to split it in two! Chapter 3 is coming real soon. I hope you're enjoying it so far! As always, kudos, comments, and questions are all welcome and appreciated :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! 
> 
> These chapters are all wildly different in terms of characters, relationships, tone, and plot. Like I said, the first one was mostly build-up, and I can't say much more without spoiling the rest. But I do hope you come back when I post the next chapters :) 
> 
> Comments, questions, and kudos are always appreciated!


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